Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) have many advantages over conventional light sources, such as incandescent, halogen and fluorescent lamps. These advantages include longer operating life, lower power consumption, and smaller size. Consequently, conventional light sources are increasingly being replaced with LEDs in traditional lighting applications. As an example, LEDs are currently being used in flashlights, camera flashes, traffic signal lights, automotive taillights and display devices.
Among the various packages for LEDs, an LED package of interest is the Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier (PLCC) package for a surface mount LED. Surface mount LEDs in PLCC packages may be used, for example, in automotive interior display devices, electronic signs and signals, and electrical equipment.
To increase the capacity of an LED package to dissipate more heat, various designs are used in the industry; however, each of these designs results in LED packages with limited heat dissipation capacities which simultaneously increase the complexity and the costs associated with manufacturing the LED packages.
For example, some LED package designs utilize a large heat sink slug that is distinct from the lead frame. The heat sink slug increases the capacity of the LED package to dissipate heat; however, because the heat sink slug is a separate component, the costs associated with manufacturing LED packages according to this design are relatively difficult and more costly, particularly because the number of manufacturing steps are increased due to the need to assembly the multiple pieces together. Furthermore, LED packages which incorporate a separate heat sink slug are larger in size due to the increased number of components in the LED package. Another shortcoming is that because a large LED package is required to accommodate the separate heat sink slug, a larger lens is also required to fit onto the larger LED package. All of this increases the cost of the LED package.